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Books podcasts were talking about in January 2025
January 2025 featured diverse literary discussions across multiple podcast episodes, with prominent mentions on programs like The Ezra Klein Show. The discourse frequently centered on political theory, societal change, and contemporary public concerns. Guests recommended works such as Matthew Rose's A World after Liberalism and Patrick Deneen's Regime Change to introduce listeners to evolving political and ideological ideas. The host also referenced Jeremy Carl's book regarding anti-white racism and discussed Jonathan Blitzer's immigration history, Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here, specifically praising its archival material from the 1980s that illustrates how government decisions are driven by individuals. Fiction and literary classics also drew notable attention. Barbara Kingsolver's novel Demon Copperhead was highlighted as a powerful rebuttal to contemporary debates surrounding rural poverty and the American working class, while George Eliot's classic novel Middlemarch was appreciated as a masterpiece of English literature. Additionally, Chris Hayes appeared on the show to discuss his book The Sirens' Call, which examines how human attention became an increasingly endangered resource in modern society. Together, these selections demonstrated a shared focus among podcasters on examining systemic institutional pressures, historical context, and the psychological impacts of modern technological and economic shifts on everyday life.
The Ezra Klein Show
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A World after Liberalism
Discussed“I do really recommend there's a great book by a guy named Matthew Rose called a world after liberalism which if you would like to be introduced to more ideas like this I I think people should pick up”
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The Unprotected Class
Discussed“I quoted Jeremy Carl who I know quite well who worked in the Trump Administration and who wrote a book about you know so anti-white racism”
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Powering the Armed Forces
Discussed“I quoted Jeremy Carl who I know quite well who worked in the Trump Administration and who wrote a book about you know so anti-white racism”
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Regime Change
Discussed“I would recommend Patrick Denine's book regime change”
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Demon Copperhead
Discussed“uh demon Copperhead was the only novel I read twice last year and I think that it is the rebuttal to all of the you know pseudo sentimental like Hil hbil elogy debate in terms of what really happened to the rural poor over the last 25 years”
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Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here
Discussed“uh and if I don't say an immigration book I'm probably going to be fired so everyone who has gone is here by Jonathan Blitzer specifically the first half um which talks about the 80s and has really great archival material uh as a reminder that like Government is made of people and people make decisions”
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The Christmas canticles, by George Elliott
Discussed“so I'm reading old long novels uh Middle March is by many people's estimate uh the greatest English language novel ever written”
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The Sirens' Call
Discussed“but he just wrote a great book called the sirens call how attention became the world's most endangered resource I've read most of the books on attention out there this one is I think the best one at understanding the value of attention today”
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The Blue Book
Discussed“when I was a kid I knew the manufacturer suggested retail price of every single car on the road by year like I could tell you not just not just what what a Camry cost but what a 93 Camry cost right cuz you must have had some book I had like the blue book”
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How to Do Nothing
Discussed“great um another book that has been mentioned on your podcast a lot and relevant which is again I I feel like I'm sort of citing can Tex here and it's important for me to do because I want to be clear as we all are as authors you know lots of people have been thinking about this very well”
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The Origins of Elected Strongmen
Discussed“Erica France is a political scientist at Michigan State University and a co-author of the origins of elected strongmen how personal parties destroy democracy from within”
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Dictators at War and Peace
Discussed“so first I would recommend Jessica weeks who has a book called dictators at war in peace and this is our go-to book for explaining why personalistic dictatorship is bad for foreign policy”
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The Trumpiad
Discussed“And then lastly for some lovy I would recommend Cody Walker's poetry book called The trumped from I think 2016 or 2017”
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Lo indisponible
Discussed“he has um a small book called The uncontrollability of the world that he's also written a very big one”
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Fully Alive
Discussed“I'd also recommend a book by uh friend of mine Elizabeth field called fully alive I think the subtitle is tending to the soul in turbulent times which I written from a sort of a Christian perspective”
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Death
Discussed“and then uh there's a book by a spiritual teacher called Joan toson which has the remarkable title death the end of self-improvement which um that's strong”
Behind the Bastards
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The Dispossessed
Discussed“What are some of the most impactful books that you've read that you think listeners should read The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin If you also haven't read Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas which is a short story Read that”
Speaker Behind the Bastards New Year Q&A Part Two | BEHIND THE BASTARDS 2025-01-03 Listen at 1:25:26 -
Cultish
Discussed“And oh my God Oh we both read this book Who's the H I'm forgetting the author's name Cultish by I want to say Amanda Montel Amanda Montel Cultish was quite good”
Speaker Behind the Bastards New Year Q&A Part Two | BEHIND THE BASTARDS 2025-01-03 Listen at 1:26:21 -
The Water Knife
Discussed“And you know why are there so many questions People here's here's one I haven't brought up in terms of books Read The Water Knife by Pooja Bhatia I'm I'm saying his name wrong I know But The Water Knife is just excellent Excellent book”
Speaker Behind the Bastards New Year Q&A Part Two | BEHIND THE BASTARDS 2025-01-03 Listen at 1:26:37
Stuff You Should Know
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Surya Siddhanta
Discussed“And not too long after that, or around that time in India, the world's oldest astronomy book, the Surya Siddhanta, obviously the whoever wrote it was like, I'm going to try to guess the diameter of Saturn, and I don't think they guessed at it like, you know, how many jelly beans are in this jar kind of guess, like”
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The three Christs of Ypsilanti
Discussed“For some reason, I thought I read the book, but I don't think I did.”
Freakonomics Radio
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The Imposter as Social Theory
Discussed“So here's something that Stapel wrote later when he wrote a book of confession, essentially about his fraud: 'I was doing fine, but then I became impatient, over-ambitious, reckless.'”
Breaking Points
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It Ends With Us
Discussed“Well, Crystal, the saga of 'It Ends With Us,' starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, has officially crossed the threshold from a story of celebrity intrigue to one of greater import.”
The Megyn Kelly Show
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Holy Bible (NIV)
Discussed“And it's all in that book; everything we're seeing happening right now isn't that how you started just reading the Bible?”
